Book Review: Of Dice and Men by David Ewalt

 

Yes, I do read actual books on occasion. I got this on the same day I finished my years-long quest to find a copy of MAR Barker’s The Man of Gold. (In short, it’s a fantasy novel, but utterly alien in setting and just as in depth as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. This is what you get when language professors make up fantasy stories. I don’t know if you can apply anything in Man of Gold to your fantasy RPG campaign, but it’s inspirational nonetheless.)

I’d heard of this Dice book somewhere and it had a glowing review, so I was thrilled to find it in the RPG section of Coas Bookstore. I started reading it almost immediately and was just as quickly disappointed. If you don’t know anything about the history of D&D’s creation and history, this might be a nice primer, albeit laborious.

You see, it commits the most tone-deaf trope there is about gamers: the author spends way too many pages telling you about his character and his campaign. Forehead slap. Nobody cares about your campaign is an absolute truism when it comes to RPG conversation with strangers. Worse, the author is an elitist snob gamer. He’s an intellectual playing the game correctly and better than you. He’s not like you weirdoes playing the game.

Are there weirdoes playing the game? Sure. Are you better than them? Probably, though it depends on what you’re measuring. Do you want to play with them? Every gaming group discriminates on some basis or another. Regardless, you’re in the same community as these people you look down on. Maybe you should consider a different hobby if you’re embarrassed by the association, because it’s likely elitists are going to quit RPG’s when it’s no longer cool and the weirdoes will never leave it.

Did I learn something? Yeah, there were some little factoids I found interesting. Then the book waves explaining some of the legal wrangling before the dissolution of TSR and refers you to a website for further details. In a 250-page book, where at least a quarter of it describes the author’s home campaign, I expect the details to be in the book.

I’ve read so many articles and watched so many videos on the subject of D&D’s history, I was looking forward to an actual published book on the subject to make my knowledge somehow official. Maybe this was the first published history of D&D and its more prototype than finished product. Maybe it’s just a book for normies, not gamers, who do not need to be told what an RPG is. This is in the opening spiel of any rulebook.

The somewhat tragic part of the book is how well it is researched. The author cites volumes of articles and books. He interviewed many important people in the hobby. (Unfortunately, Gygax and Arneson had passed before this book came about.) He went to conventions and even had an advanced LARP experience.

Perhaps the worst element of the book is at the end, where it becomes a promo for D&D Next (which would become the Fifth Edition). The game designers at WOTC gave the author access to developer conferences and playtest material. For a history of D&D book, discussion of the future of the game should have been epilogue. Instead, it becomes an ad. Discussions about the breakdown of 3e, 3.5e being released as a fix, the failure of 4e, and the rise of the OSR are breezed over. This is what the gamers who bought the book wanted to read about! Oh, and this preview of the future dates a book which should have been timeless in its content as an official history book.

I was not the audience for this RPG book. Hand this book to your normie friends who are curious about D&D. They’ll think they’ve acquired some great knowledge and will likely become insufferable.

Comics Review: Marvel Epic Collection: X-Force-Zero Tolerance

It took a while, but I finally got a comic that I loved at Zia Comics. Granted, it cost $45, but it was probably worth it. It was a bit of a pricy Free Comic Book Day.

Not having any games that weekend to watch, I decided to go out to the comic book store for the event. Unlike past FCBD’s, I arrived on time for this one (not too early or too late). Walking over to the store, I passed some smiling young women gushing over their comics, so I knew I wouldn’t get shutout this time. (There were several excited girls out for this event, sometimes with boyfriends.)

The store had plenty of free comics there and said to take three comics, which I did. My biggest trouble was just picking three. I’d pre-decided I was going to buy something while I was there, so looked around. I found this X-Force volume in the trades section. I’m not sure if I’d noticed it before and passed over it because of the price, but I’d read some of these issues before and enjoyed them.

I was feeling generous and picked it up. The girl at the register was ecstatic. (I hope at least a few other people bought something after getting the free comics.) She told me to go ahead and pick up three more free comics. That was nice of her. I ended up not getting anything else, which was a mistake. I gave away two of the three comics I got to a co-worker for her kids. I could have gotten some better kid-friendly comics for them if I’d thought about it at the time.

A page from the Archie comic.  I thought it was cute.

(I got the usual Archie and a surprising find, a Mobile Suit Gundam comic, and a Conan comic. I gave away the Archie and the Gundam after reading them myself.

The Conan comic wasn’t violent, but I decided it wasn’t appropriate for kids to give away. The comic sets up a bigger storyline that’s going to run in their regular comics. It’s the new Conan produced by Titan Comics (3-17-25).  I’m still not enamored with their take on the character. It looks right, but doesn’t sound right. It’s just a little off. It’s not quite Conan for a “modern audience,” but it’s cozying up to it.

The X-Force volume is a 500-page book. It comprises 20 issues, including a double-sized 75-th issue. This is no quick read. It took a couple sittings just for me to skim over it afterward to review it. I’d read many of these issues in the 90’s. I didn’t get them new, but had gotten them at a bookstore. I’ve forgotten the name of the place, but they had stacks of comics lying around there, old and new. I sort wish I’d gotten more at the time, but I was pretty happy getting a stack of fairly new issues of X-Force.

This was a title I never bought regularly, except for probably the first issue for collecting purposes. I think I had the original New Mutants issues with Rob Liefield when the book was later rebooted as X-Force. It was a more combat-oriented comic that I wasn’t hugely interested in. The 90’s were when I mostly stopped collecting. My favorites at the time were Sandman and Gen 13, as unlikely as that combination was.

One thing I appreciated about Gen 13 was this group of young people with superpowers, who were “casual” superheroes. It wasn’t their job exactly and the rest of the time they were hanging out. The Road Trip issues of X-Force remind me of that. A caption in the book sums them up, “X-Force Fun Fact: While many superhero groups are funded by the government or wealthy patrons. The members of X-Force refuse to sell out. Consequently, they’re broke.” It’s an interesting concept for a mainline superhero, although Spider-Man and his perpetually broke alter ego, Peter Parker, has mined this take for decades.

I looked up some online reviews of the book after I’d bought it and the results were decidedly mixed. The book is called Zero Tolerance and the issues here are really only on the periphery of that X-Men storyline, so it’s a misleading title. (It should have been called Road Trip.) Also, Cable and Deadpool, the team’s most popular characters, make cameos in several issues, but it’s just a tease. They aren’t part of the main story, except where the team breaks off formally from Cable and that’s only the tail end of one issue. I can see where others would see this as a bunch of B-List characters in directionless, meandering adventures.

Your enjoyment of this will depend on how much you buy into the concept and if you like the artwork and the characters that are presented. Much of the art is by Adam Pollina. It’s very expressive, nearly cartoony, and quite distinctive. The other artists in the volume aren’t far off in style. I’m a New Mutants fan from way back. (I had the first 10 issues and stopped, unfortunately, right before it got more interesting.) If you don’t have an attachment to these characters, and some of the characters on the team I’m not familiar with, you might not be into them. Characters do drop in and disappear and plots are left dangling over the course of the book.

I’ll overview some interesting parts of the volume. The first issue starts with most of the team on the hunt for a missing Warpath, James Proudstar. This leads to a mission, via SHIELD, to extract an undercover agent from the Mutant Liberation Force, Dani Moonstar. The story then stops to do a flashback issue of a young James. This must have been part of a company-wide directive, as it is numbered “-1.” I really like the Warpath character, so I enjoyed this diversion, though it has direct consequences to later issues.

A little cameo from Stan to intro the flashback issue.

I remember James as an honorable member of the Hellfire Club Hellions (their version of the New Mutants). He’d rejected the X-Men, since he’d blamed Professor Xavier for the death of his older brother, Apache Chief, just kidding, Thunderbird. Warpath was also a main character on the TV show, The Gifted, so he has some appeal. Basically, the character is analogous to Captain America, without the shield, but with advanced senses.

Dani is also another one of my favorite mutants. I don’t know why I’m favoring two Indian/Native Americans, but I like the characters. She never exactly formally joins the group. Dani just seems to be at loose ends and decides to follow along with X-Force, since she knows them. Not having a lot of motivation, she fits right in with the team. I was a bit disappointed they didn’t do more with her, but she is an integral support character.

The main story picks back up as X-Force fights the MLF and advanced human-ish Sentinels from the Zero Tolerance task force. Some members of X-Force captured, but later freed, and they’re reunited with Cable. Ironically, this leads to their breakup with him. He wants the group to go underground with new identities. X-Force uniformly rejects that idea and Cable leaves them to find their own destiny.

This friendly couple in the van looks familiar.

The road trip starts here, as the group is left broke and traveling. James suddenly rejoins them, but then takes off with Theresa (Siryn) to chase down a lead on the people who massacred his tribe years ago. The rest of the team takes a side job working security for a questionable individual.

How's that for a Valkyrie entrance? 

Blackheart reminds me of somebody.

Specifically Mok from Rock & Rule.

James and Theresa manage to find the mad doctor behind the slaughter of the tribe, but it costs Warpath his life. Thankfully, this is a comic book. It turns out this is a plot by deceased villain, Stryfe, to have James take his place in Heck. The team shows up to save him and Stryfe gets what he deserves.

What a better time to go party. X-Force goes to the Flaming Colossal Dude festival (just a joke there). They are briefly reunited with former New Mutants teammates, Karma (Shan), who is exploring an alternative lifestyle (which was completely out-of-character and I think handwaved by later writers), and Cannonball (Sam). This is awkward, since Tabitha (Meltdown), Sam’s erstwhile girlfriend, and Bobby (Sunspot), his best friend, are having an affair. Also, Cable finally formally bows out of the team’s affairs.

I love these two back-to-back pages: the team as badass superheroes and the team in matching bowling shirts. They’re perfectly illustrating what to expect from this title from here out. In this issue, the story picks up with Shatterstar and Rictor, who’d wandered off earlier in the volume, but then they disappear again from the storyline. The big revelation, though, is that Sam finds out about Tabitha and Bobby and flies off angry.

Polina’s best artwork is probably in the next story, The City of Lost Children, which is a fill-in issue with a different writer. (John Francis Moore writes most of the volume.) It’s a shame that the story isn’t quite up to the artwork, but at least makes it readable. It’s also set in the town of Almost Reno, New Mexico. I assume it’s a stand-in for Las Vegas, New Mexico.

X-Force meets a Hawaiian goddess.

There are several subplots weaving along in these stories. In the next three issues, they pay off Sunspot being stalked by his evil alter ego, Reignfire, with a massive fight in Las Vegas. With this, the group makes it to San Francisco, where Bobby gets reconnected with his trust fund and finally X-Force has some money. Flush with cash, he treats them to a Hawaiian vacation. Hijinks ensue. This was also Polina’s last issue.

The group finally reconnects with Domino and picks up a new member, but just as quickly, they’re whisked away from them to reconnect with Sam, who is protecting two superpowered beings, one of which can turn thought to reality. It leads to kind of a nice moment where Sam is asked why he didn’t wish for the X-Men to show up and help him. “Ah was thinking about who Ah’d want covering my back, and it was you guys,” he says. The friendship between the members of X-Force carries the book.

Overall, the individual issues may not be as great as the overall concept of superheroes making a road trip and not having any real defined mission. I haven’t read any issues past this, so I don’t know how long they carried on with this. It was a radical departure from the previous militant X-Force. I enjoyed it. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe I just liked the concept and/or the characters. Your mileage may vary. 

Baseball Journal May 2025 Part 3

Part 2

5-18-25

Both teams were swinging away early in the count in today’s Rangers and Astros game.    It was like they had an early tee time.    Balls and strikes calls were inconsistent enough to where you might as well swing.    For a moment in the third, it seemed like both teams were about to rush the field at the ump.    The Rangers broke through in the fourth for three runs to start the scoring.   

By the end of the top of the fifth, announcer Eric Nadel pointedly mentioned that the Astros had no hits.    Jack Leiter was in unknown territory in the seventh, his longest ever outing, but still with a low pitch count.    With two outs and a full count, Yainer Diaz broke up the no-no with a home run.    Leiter came out in the eighth after giving up back-to-back hits.    The Arlington crowd gave him a big cheer.    The next reliever threw one pitch and had to come out of the game with an arm problem.    The next replacement gave up a three-run homer to give the Astros the lead and a 4-3 win.    Disappointing to say the least.   

5-19-25

One game on tap for me tonight, but it was a good one.    The Royals were playing the Giants and it was 0-0 going into the eighth.    Royals’ pitcher, Kris Bubic, was riding a no-hitter into the sixth.    The Giants’ broadcasters were not talking about it.    The MLB.TV site had flagged it, which was how I found out about it.    There was a grounder to second that the fielder slipped trying to get that was initially ruled an error, but I knew they’d change it and that happened.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Giants had runners on second and third with one out.    A line drive caught at third doubled off the runner there to suddenly end the inning.    In the top of the eighth, after a double by Jonathan India, Vinnie Pasquantino slapped a two-run homer to right.    That’s not a cheap home run, folks.    In the bottom, Jung Hoo Lee thrilled his legion of fans in the stands by driving in a run.    Also in the inning, Royal catcher and captain, Salvador Perez, was scolded by the home plate ump for wiping the plate.    You’d think he’d know better.    The Royals added one in the ninth and went on to win, 3-1.    And I got to watch Laura Britt on the Giants’ postgame, which was a bonus.   

5-21-25

Yesterday, the Chihuahuas were up by 4 in the eighth before the Rainiers erupted for 7 runs and won the game.    They played a day game to today that I only listened to bits and pieces of while the Aggies’ conference tournament game was on.    The Chihuahuas won 7-6 in a back-and-forth game.    They’d had the lead, lost it, came back late, and had to hold on in the ninth.    Of more serious concern, the Chihuahuas’ closer, Reese Knehr, came in in the ninth, made one pitch, and then walked straight off the mound.    As judging to what happened yesterday, the pups can hardly afford to lose a good reliever.

5-22-25

I heard the end of the Aggies getting eliminated from the C-USA tournament just in time to hear the Rangers play the Yankees.    It was a cold and rainy day in New York and nobody was hitting.    The final was 1-0 Yankees.    A rookie hit his first home run to the short porch in right for the win.    The Rangers wasted a great pitching performance from Nathan Evoldi.    Even hiring a new batting coach hasn’t helped Texas.    What a disappointing morning.

At least things went better in the evening. I watched the Nationals beat the Braves in ten innings, 8-7. It was a good close game with some back-and-forth scoring. The Nat’s third baseman made an error in the ninth that led to the Braves tying the score. On the next play, a go-ahead run for the Braves was thrown out at the plate.

“Why am I rooting for the Nat’s?” I asked myself. There was graphic shown in the broadcast that explained it to me. It showed the results of that massive trade a couple of years ago between the Padres and the Nationals. The Padres basically rented Juan Soto for a season. In turn, the Nationals raided their cupboard of all of the Padres’ best prospects, included a guy who got called up today. He got his first hit in front of his family there, and they were thrilled. Anyway, most of those prospects were former Chihuahuas. On that note, the pups won, 6-2, tonight over the Rainiers. They had a thrilling five-run inning that sent ten batters to the plate.

5-29-25

Today’s MLB.TV Free Game was brutal. The Blue Jays beat the A’s, 12-0, which included an eight-run second. The A’s actually played pretty well when the season started, but the wheels have completely come off, especially with their pitching.

The Chihuahuas beat the Rivercats, 8-5. Mike Brousseau hit a grand slam after three walks loaded the bases. In the other dugout, former Aggie, Daniel Johnson, left the bases loaded in his first at bat, but came back in the third with a three-run homer.

5-30-25

I had to skip over tonight’s Chihuahuas game as the MLB.TV Free Game was audio-only between the Diamondbacks and the Nationals. I wanted to listen because retired play-by-play guy, Greg Schulte, was back filling in. It was a little awkward given that the Dbacks had named the booth after him. I was really busy with month end processing, but what I heard was a good back-and-forth game though it didn’t go Arizona’s way in a 9-7 loss. Greg seemed so disappointed, if not bitter. He’s still a diehard fan.

Meanwhile on the scoreboard, the Rangers finally figured out which end of the bat to hold and had an 11-1 over the Cardinals. Sorry, Aunt Judy. (She was unhappy.)

5-31-25

And the actual Rangers showed up the next day in a 2-0 loss to Cardinals. I had some kind of trouble with my portable radio while at dad’s apartment and only got to listen to the final two innings when I went back home. Maybe that was just as well.

I was over my dad’s watching a Softball College World Series game between Oklahoma and Texas. It was a very tight game, but Texas got their first win over Oklahoma in CWS game, 4-2. Maybe they’ll meet again in the finals for a rematch. The game did feature two pretty starters for the teams, so it was an easy watch. The Texas starter had lost her beloved grandma this morning and still got the complete game win. Bless her heart.

Okay, the big news: I got a shout out on Chihuahuas baseball tonight. I’d sent broadcaster Tim Hagerty a couple of e-mails about former Aggie, Daniel Johnson, last night. Tim mentioned me by name and what I’d sent about Daniel. What a thrill!

DJ was also thrilled. He hit a home run tonight for the Rivercats. That’s the third game in a row he’s homered. (I missed him doing it last night.) The Chihuahuas’ first batter of the game homered and that held up until the fifth, when they brought in some relievers and got hammered, 8-1. It was Dino Night in Sacramento. I don’t know what that means other than some music from Jurassic Park.

Baseball Journal May 2025 Part 2

Part 1 

5-11-25

What a night of baseball!    I don’t have this exactly in chronological order, but I got to see a bunch games tonight.    It started with the Chihuahuas in Las Vegas playing the Aviators.    The pups went down 8-0 in the first inning with 6 of those runs being unearned, as they occurred after a two-out error.    By the eighth, it was 17-2, and the Chihuahuas brought in a position player to pitch.    The player gave up a three-run homer on his first pitch.    It was that kind of night.    That was a 20-2 loss.

I switched over to the Padres and the Angels, which was going on at the same time, but kept getting distracted by a slew of extra innings games.    First, I tuned into the Red Sox at the Tigers.    A surprise two-run homer in the eleventh by the Red Sox put them up. Even more surprising, Javier Baez came up in the bottom with two on and blasted a three-run walkoff.    10-9 Tigers win.    Baez is finally having some rejuvenation in his career.   

Another then another extra innings game came on: White Sox at Reds.    The Sox scored four in the tenth including a three-run homer to win, 5-1.    Back in San Diego, the Padres were down 4-2 in the eighth.    An RBI single and a wild pitch brought in the tying run.    In the ninth, Fernando Tatis Jr. walked it off with a two-run homer.    He stood there for a moment to admire the shot and soak in the adulation from the full-house crowd.    6-4 Padres.

A third extra innings game popped up.    (Thank goodness for the free runner at second rule.)    The Yankees were at the Mariners in a 1-1 tie in the tenth.    The M’s would win it, 2-1, in the eleventh.    The Mariners’ announcer called it a win over the “Evil Empire.”    Meanwhile, another game with another evil empire also went final.    The lowly homeless A’s beat the Dodgers in LA, 11-1!    Justice is served.   

One consistent topic in these games with the commentators was Pete Rose.    The Commissioner ruled today that players who had received a lifetime ban would be lifted from that status if they were deceased.    This allows for Rose to finally be voted into the Hall of Fame.    I have mixed feelings about this, but I’m in the minority.    I think most fans will be overjoyed with his election and certainly his playing accomplishments merit it.

5-14-25

Yu Darvish made a sudden rehab start for the Chihuahuas tonight against the Aviators.    It was a surprise to me, otherwise would have tuned in and listened on time.    Darvish gave up a two-run homer in the first, but otherwise went four good innings and finished strong.   

It seemed like Las Vegas had an opposing batter walk-up song promotion going, but I wasn’t sure.    I kept hearing music for Chihuahuas batters.    One clever song I heard was for a looking strikeout when they played U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.    It was a 6-4 loss for the pups, but they did make a ninth inning comeback.    Announcer Tim Hagerty talked about a left-handed catcher late in the game, but I missed the details.    I don’t think such a unicorn was in today’s game, but somewhere else.

Meanwhile, the MLB.TV free game was the Marlins versus the Cubs.    The Marlins won to sweep the Cubs, but both teams were fighting the elements.    There was a fog/mist/smoke over the stadium for the game that kept getting worse as the game went on.    By the ninth, I could hardly believe they were still playing.    A popup in the outfield nearly hit the fielder after he got under it.   

5-16-25

Last week, I got that free day off from a gas leak at work.    Today was the day I finally caught up from that day.    I guess I paid for that.    I don’t know how I got any work done because it was a FREE Weekend on MLB.TV!    And it was Rivalry Weekend as well!    Yay!    You bet I took full advantage of this.    I started off with the Indians at the Reds.    The Reds were up 5-0 when I started watching, but ended up squeaking out a, 5-4, win.

During the Reds game, the marquee matchup of the night started, Mets at Yankees.    It was a friendly “Welcome home!” from the Bronx crowd to Juan Soto, who had left the Yankees to play for the Mets this season.    They gave him a loud “cheer” every time he came to plate.    The Bleacher Creatures in the outfield would give him a “standing ovation” when he’d take his position there.    If you can imagine an entire section of fans turning their backs to the field, that was it.    I wasn’t entirely pleased either with Yankee free agent acquisition.  Paul Goldschmidt is currently batting .346 with a .901 OPS.    Why didn’t you bat like that with Cardinals!    (Answer: Because he wasn’t behind .400+ hitting Aaron Judge there.)    Yankees win, 6-2.

By this point, there were several games going.    The Tigers were at the Blue Jays.    I saw Javier Baez make a diving catch in the outfield then double off a runner at first.    He just started playing in the outfield this season and I was impressed . . . until missed on a line drive in the ninth.    But, Tigers win, 5-4.   

The Braves were at the Red Sox.    The Sox were wearing their new Green Monster green-colored City Connect jerseys.    They were very sharp.    It was 2-1 Braves in the top of the ninth, where Sox pitching walked in two runs to give the Braves a 4-2 win.

By this point, I had at least four games going.    MLB.TV had caught on and wasn’t letting me open up any more games.    The only reason I got this many was because I had the games going in four different browsers.   

The hands-down heartbreaker of the night was the Nationals at the Orioles.    Mackenzie Gore started for the Nats.    He had 9 strikeouts, but gave up 10 hits, but for only 2 runs.    He came out in the fourth inning having thrown over 100 pitches.    The O’s had hit 26 foul balls off him.    But did they win?    No.    The Orioles lost, 4-3.    They left 15 runners on base and led 14 to 5 in hits.    This loss would have ramifications (see tomorrow’s entry).   

Elsewhere, the Pirates were at the Phillies and were tied at 0 into the fifth.    I got to see Bryce Harper get his 1,000-th RBI on soft single.    The Phillies ended up running away with the game.    The A’s at the Giants was more like the A’s versus Wilmer Flores.    He had a grand slam home run and a 3-run homer for a 7-RBI career night.    Giants win, 9-1.    The last game to finish for the night was the Angels beating the Dodgers on the road, 6-2.    Take that Evil Empire West!

I did sort of neglect the Chihuahuas during all this.    The pups took an early big lead in their game against the Aviators.    I tuned in late to hear them finish a 12-4 win.    Las Vegas actually made a bit of a comeback while I was listening.    Amusingly, whenever LV won a pitch challenge, the PA played Styx’s Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.  

      

5-17-25

“Are they going to be doing this for the next 15 years?”    ESPN Radio was playing the Mets at the Yankees this morning.    One of the announcers asked that question having heard the Bronx’s jeering reception towards Juan Soto for the last two days.    Unlike yesterday’s blowout, this one was tight and low-scoring.    There were very tense bases-loaded situations for both teams late.    Finally, the Mets took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth.    The final batter was Aaron Judge himself.    He struck out on a high fastball to end the game.

I started listening to that game at home.    I took a portable radio to my dad’s apartment and kept listening to the game, while we watched a couple of TV episodes (Almost Paradise and Nikita).    On dad’s TV, I saw a sports ticker that reported that the Orioles had fired their manager after yesterday’s game and a disappointing season altogether.    Boy, was that a bad loss yesterday.     

We visited his neighbor, Lamae, to walk her dogs and I took the radio with me.    When we returned, she heard the game I was listening to and brought the game up on her TV, so I got to watch the end of the game.    She kind of wanted us to stick around while she was waiting for someone, so we looked in on a couple of other games.

The Rays were at the Marlins facing Sandy Alcantra.    He didn’t have his good stuff and got clobbered in his final inning.    At least the Marlins looked good in their new Miami Vice-inspired City Connect uni’s.    We briefly found and then lost the White Sox at the Cubs.    (There were some issues with the remote.)    At that game, they were filming an episode of Reacher.    The big guy and his recurring comrade were sitting in the bleachers in the outfield with a cameraman next to them doing a scene.    This was kind of fascinating.    (Was there a guy with a mitt sitting in front of them, just in case?)  

The person Lamae was waiting for arrived and I went ahead and left.    (Otherwise, I would have been there watching games all night and been a terrible guest.)    Though I’d had Raising Canes earlier, I went over to the Mall looking for a new Archie digest (found it and something else, I’ll review these later) and picked up Chicken Teriyaki noodles for dinner.   

I was back home in time for the Astros at the Rangers on the radio.    The game started with Matt Hicks praising tonight’s umps.    The home plate ump had called the third perfect umpire game ever, since they started tracking that.    (He called all of the balls and strikes correctly.)    Another ump on the field had called the second perfect game.    Wow!    Of course by the third inning, everyone was complaining about the strike zone.    Regardless, the Rangers’ bats woke up today and they won, 5-1.

Later, the Chihuahuas were playing the Aviators in Las Vegas . . . in the rain?    It was brief, but sent fans scurrying for cover.    Regardless, it was a 6-4 for the pups.   

Part 3